On May 9, Gloucester, Ont.-based Telesat Canada and surprise dbs entrant Shaw Communications, Calgary, announced plans to launch satellites into two Canadian-owned orbital slots.

Telesat announced a partnership agreement with Tele-Communications Inc. (tci) and a pending deal with TelQuest Ventures L.L.C., both based in Denver, to launch four new Canadian-owned satellites.

The announcement came hours after Shaw's DBS Ventures Division outlined its intentions to apply to launch a dbs satellite in one of the same slots, as well as a dth service.

At issue are the rights to the slots. Shaw's proposed service would require 10 to 15 of 32 available transponders. Excess capacity would be available to u.s. companies only if enough Canadian clients couldn't be found.

Under the agreement with tci, Telesat will invest about $750 million in the purchase and launch of two satellites before the end of 1996. The pending deal with TelQuest would see the launch of two more dbs satellites in late 1997 or early 1998. At one slot, 27 transponders would be dedicated for u.s. use, with five for Canada. At the other, 22 would be for u.s. use and 10 for Canada.